The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved USD300 million in credit from the highly-concessional International Development Association (IDA) for the new Dar es Salaam Metropolitan Development Project (DMPD) that will improve services directly for 1.9 million residents and, indirectly, for the city’s overall population of 4.6 million.
Dar es Salaam, whose population growth rate averaged 5.6 percent between 2002 and 2012, is among the fastest growing cities in the world. Services have not been able to keep up with the rapid development leading to sprawl, growth of informal settlements, congestion, flooding, and constraints to the business environment.
The IDA credit will improve the key services to address flooding, urban mobility, and basic infrastructure in low-income communities. DMDP will improve the capacity of local governments to better plan and provide services while focusing on the growing need to adopt a metropolitan approach to addressing the region’s challenges.
“In 15 years, Dar es Salaam will be a mega city with a population of over 10 million residents,” said Philippe Dongier, World Bank Tanzania Country Director. “With more than 800,000 new job seekers entering the market every year, many are looking to Dar es Salaam for opportunities. Investments over the next five years are key to help.
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